Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-10-07
Travelling In siber,,


half the journey, and my advice is-travel
alone. He had huge box, which rem
dered 1t almost impossible to lie down
comfortably in the tarantass, for Won
travel night and day. Fer the first three
nights | could not sleep at all, bnt altar
that We rearranged our luggage, discard.
ed my air bed, and went back to print
tive straw, which is best. After this We
slept, though as the roads were bad we
were sometimes very much knocked
about. The nights were short,-aot more
than three hours total darkness,--and we
we're entirely unmolested during the
whole journey. Near. Irkutska a traveller
had been robbed aud killed shortly before
we passed, and on this side of the Yah
lonoi mountains five dead bodies had
been found IN pit at one point OF the
road, but no highwaymen did We see on
the whole of our Journey. Wolves were
equally scarce; but the Siberian wolf is
cowardly animal, and seldom interferes
with travellers. Far different is the bear,
who frequently crosses the high road,
much TO the alarm of your horses, who
can not be induced 10 proceed. Bruin is
leisurely animal, and when he takes
INTO his head to venture upon the high
way he sits there imperturbably; nor will
he bulge until 1t pleases him, were all
the tarantasses in the world waiting for
his departure If you go at him with
rlne he comes at you open mouthed. But
OF serious danger | don't think there is
anything worth speaking about. Some
times when you are tearing madly down
nil, you realize that stumbling horse
or rotten plank in the bridgs might
make all the difference between time and
eternity. But those risks you take any
where. As 20 robbers, L would rather be
IN the widest and loneliest Siberian forest
on dark night than l would be in soma
parts of st. Petersburg or London. The
dangers, fancy, are very small; but of
the discomforts and the want of COM
forts-their name is legion. The journey
Is decidedly not one for an invalid"
what Is the cost of travelling in these
parts?" Il have averaged on the whole
from Niadivostock to London about 80
shillings day, including everything
You can cross the length and breadth of
Siberia, travelling first class by steamers
and driving three horses in your taran-
tass, for 800, and do the distance in
about two months and half. The food
is very cheap, not very good. In the
long drive from Stretinsk to Tomsk,
about J 800 miles, you run the risk of
farlng somewhat poorly at the various
post stations. You are always sure of
having samovar with boiling water,
with which to make tea, and milk, with
sometimes a chicken. Beyond that the
resources of the post houses do not often
GO. The cost of living on the steamers,
where you have very good fare, is about
4 shillings day. The cheapest thing is
the driving. At every ten to twenty
miles along the main route you come up
on post-house, maintained by the
government, where you change horses.
You buy your own carriage, springless
vehicle, which does very we'll on smooth
routes, but which jolts you terribly when
the route is bad, and which you sell when
you get on the far end. l bought my
tarautass at one end for el3, and sold it
at the other end for Ga, having taken SO
of iolting out it in the eighteen hundred
miles which it carried me safely. You
drive from two to five horses, and travel
| at about the rate of six miles an hour.
You pay for the horses 3 pence a mile
for the three-1 pence mile per horse.
In the very far east you only pay half
that, or l p pence a mile for three horses,
which is certainly not dear. But most
of the way you pay pence mile for
the three. The driver, who is also pro-
vided by the government receives a
gratuity of pence per stage of ten
miles"
"What about the language!2
Chat is undoubtedly the great Difficult
ty. Ny companion saved me much
trouble in that respect, but when we
parted ] was thrown on Hy own resOurc-
es, l had with much trouble worked up q
little Russian, could read a little, and
found it extremely useful, wretche1 and
all as it was. But as I almost always
found someone who could talk French or
German, got on pretty well. The Rus
slams are good linguists and speak
French WELL though they tell me that laL-
gage is going out of fashion"
GLOW did the people treat you? We're
the officials at all troublesome"
''Not at all. | was treated with the
greatest courtesy and kindness through
out. The Russian officers | met were
thorough gentlemen, and from everyone,
from Gen. Baranoff downward, l received
the greatest hospitality. The Russians
impressed me as very kindly warm
hearted people"
"The most interesting sight, and one
of the most painful, was the long line of
convicts making their way to the settle
ments. When sitting at the post town
We would hear in the distance the clink,
cliuk, clink of the chains, and looking up
we would see the long procession wend
its way slowly along the road, proceeded
by soldiers armed, and the rear brought
up by wagons laden with the wives and
children of the unhappy exiles, who had
elected to share their fate. The children
looked happy enough and merry as the
wagons slowly crawled along the roads;
and no doubt they would not fare badly
when they came to their journeys end.
They were planted out as free colonists
on far more fertile land than they had
left behind in Russia. The sight, how
ever, was sad enough, and one of the
most characteristic of Siberia"
"What did you think of the conyicts?
We're they badly treated?"
"Certainly not, so far as L could see."
Putting Up Boys Lunch.
A -yriEar-opl ba